British police: Naked Prince Harry photos not as ‘inappropriate’ as they appear

Britain's Prince Harry arrives at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan on September 7. Photographs of Harry nude in a Las Vegas hotel room were "not as appeared", Britain's top police officer said on Tuesday. The royal made headlines around the world when the images of him frolicking nude with an unidentified naked woman in a VIP hotel room were published on a US gossip website in August.

He was testifying before the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee when he was asked about the role of Harry’s protection officers during the Vegas party.

“There was nothing inappropriate and what appeared in photographs to be wrong was not as appeared,” Hogan-Howe said.

“Our role is to maintain the security of our protected individual. They have to lead a normal life and we have to strike a balance between intrusion into their life and keeping them safe.

“There is a golden line that cannot be crossed, which is getting involved in the social lives of the principals.”

The Press Complaints Commission has said it would be “inappropriate” to open an investigation into the publication of the images by the Sun newspaper because neither Harry nor his representatives has made a complaint.

The prince has since been deployed for a second tour of duty in Afghanistan, where he is set to serve four months as an Apache helicopter pilot at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province.